d. Stations of unit or
parts thereof
(1) Departed Fawley, Hants, to board LSTs for channel crossing 25 June
1944
(2) Upon arrival in France preceeded to positions in vicinity of Cerisy-la-Foret.

e. Operations

On 20 June 1944, at 0145 hours, the Bn CO received verbal orders from the
RTC that the Bn was to move to the Marshalling Area B-1, in the vicinity
of Southampton, England, without delay. Orders, as issued,
provided for the departure of Captain GEORGE L. WILSON, Asst Bn S-3, for
Exeter to pick up the written orders; for the heavy column, under EVERTT
A. ROMIG, Bn S-3, to move at 1300 yhours; for the light column under Major
W.W. PERHAM, Bn Ex Officer, to move at 1400 hours and to receive orders
by messenger enroute; for the light column to double the heavy column at
a scheduled halt following the battalion SOP; and for a reception party
to be sent forward.

The move to the Marshalling Area proceeded without notable incident; the
advanced party arriving at 2030 hours, the light column at 2230 hours and
the battalion closed its assigned area at 0500 hours on 21 June 1944.
However, while the move to the Marshalling Area was but a routine march,
the speed and efficiency with which the battalion evacuated their camp
at Oakhampton was an accomplishment for which the received the personal
commendation of the battalion commander.

The activities pertinent to embarkation continued under the direction of
the area authorities;the battalion meanwhile preparing for shipment via
LCT and awaiting movement orders.Shortly after 0600 hours on 24 June a
robot plane flew over the area and crashed in an open field some distance
away. Needless to say, this being the battalion’s first taste of
the enemy’s “secret weapon”, the “flying bomb” was the chief topic of conversation
at breakfast that morning. The general concensus of opinion was that
this new weapon of the Germans was of but slight importance. However,
the fallacy of this opion was to be realized later.

At 0200 hours on 25 June 1944, orders were received to move to the embarkation
point at 0745 hours.With these orders came the information that LSTs were
to be furnished rather than LCTs as was expected. This necessitated
the complete rearrangement of the loading of the Btry and elements of Hq,
B and Service batteries.On LST 287 with Major PERHAM in command and the
balance of the battalion (less small increments of the firing batteries
and the battalion maintenance section, who preceeded on a British LCT)
on LST 528, with Lt. Col. MORAWETZ in command. LST 287 moved out
into the harbor that evening preparatory to joining the convoy for a night
crossing of the channel. LST 528 and the British LCT did likewise
a short time later.Somewhere enroute, however, LST 528 joined the wrong
convoy by mistake and was thereby delayed in arriving at the beach head.

On the evening of 26 June, LST 287 made a poor approach to the beach and
was forced to make a second attempt on the high tide the following morning.By
noon of the 27 June, the personnel and equipment of LST 287 had been unloaded
and moved to Transit Area D-19 where initial stages of dewaterproofing
were begun. At 1400 hours Col. JIM DAN HILL CO 190TH fa Group, to
which we had been attached upon arrival in France arrived in the area and
issued orders for the movement of the unit to a rendezvous area in the
vicinity of Cerisy-la-Foret, some 10 or 12 kilometers distant.This march
took the organization through Trevieres and davastation of war on the continent.The
allied naval batteries covering D-Day invasion had completely demolished
most of this town and the effectiveness of their fire was very evident.

Upon arrival at the rendezvous area, each organization was guided into
its respective position and the first digging-in and camouflaging activities
under actual combat conditions was begun. At long last, THIS WAS
IT.It wasn’t until about 1000 hours on 28 June that the personnel from
LST 528 joined the initial elements near Cerisy-la-Foret.They had been
delayed nearly 12 hours in unloading.At this time it was learned that one
of the Macks belonging to C Btry and loaded with ammunition had been lost
while being unloaded from the British LCT. It was beyond being salvaged
at the time but it was later learned that the engineers finally succeeded
in salvaging it.While their craft was anchored off the beach, many of the
men mistook the occasional dynamite blasts set off by the engineers in
clearing the harbor for enemy artillery fire. They were quickly reassured
by the crew members that such was not the case.

The activity of the troops on the beach and in the harbor, together with
the evidence of the work of the army engineers, gave the battalion a clear
picture of the efficiency and ingenuity of the great army of which they
were soon to become a very active part.

The next few days were spent in improving the camouflaging of equipment
and living quarters of personnel throughout the battalion.Several officers
from higher headquarters had visited us since our arrival but nothing in
the way of orders to prepare for action had as yet been received.On 28
June the battalion received 50 replacement from the 16th, 17th, and 18th
Replacement Depots respectively and on the next day two more were received.
Of these replacements Hq Btry received 9, Service Btry 8, A Btry 12, B
Btry 13, and C Btry 10.The battalion received its first taste of serial
warfare on the evening of 30 June when several enemy planes engaged some
allied fighters in combat directly over a part of our area.Rumor had it
that several of the German ME 109s were shot down but only one was confirmed
insofar as the battalion was concerned and it fell not a great distance
from our area.The battalion was paid in French francs on the last day of
the month and the period closed without further incident of note.